Sun Hung Kai prepares for its biggest weekend sales with 328 Yuen Long apartments on offer

Hong Kong’s largest developer of residential property is poised for its busiest launch when it offers 328 apartment units for sale this weekend, responding to a vacancy tax aimed at stimulating supply to ease the city’s overwhelming need for housing.

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) said it would start selling its Park Yoho Milano project on Saturday, almost two-thirds of the complex in Yuen Long in the New Territories, in a sale estimated at HK$2.8 billion (US$357 million).

Developers have been speeding up their sales of new projects since the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last month unveiled a number of measures intended to bring more affordable housing to the city, including a tax on newly built homes standing empty, according to Centaline Property Agency.

“It’s rare for developers to sell 60 per cent of an entire project in one go,” said Centaline’s Asia-Pacific vice-chairman Louis Chan Wing-kit. “The project has received its occupation permit. It might be subject to the tax if it is not sold in one year.”

Some developers would offer sweeteners to speed up sales, Chan said. For instance, the developer would offer first-time buyers a first mortgage of up to 90 per cent of the sticker price, while property upgraders who already own a unit worth no less than 60 per cent of the purchase price qualify for a mortgage plan of up to 120 per cent.

Hong Kong’s five largest developers held as many as 4,791 completed - but unsold - apartment units between them as at June 30, according to Centaline’s estimates. The city government is trying to pry them loose for release into the market to ease the pent-up demand that has caused home prices to soar for 27 consecutive months. Of all the developers, SHKP is the largest hoarder, with as many as 2,656 units in stock, while Henderson Land Development has 1,227 units, Centaline said.